Being in US and happening to be(atleast pretending to be) busy with acads at school,I have not been aware of the Indian festivals.I got to know about the upcoming Dussera or Vijayadasimi or Durga puja or Navarathri (as it is called in different parts in India) only i enquired why my Non Veg eating friends stopped eating non-veg.
The Dussera or Vijayadasimi as we used to call in Andhra pradesh used to exciting when i was a kid,the reason being that,it was th only day when the families of the employees at ECIL(My dad's office) were allowed into their campus.The very thought of it used to make me happy,the sole reason of that being that i can use the typewriter or if there was a chance play some computer games.Now when i remember about that i feel very silly,at the same time i feel "come on afterall i was a child".After joining IIT Durga puja(as it was called in Delhi) either was a short vacation of 4-6 days which included a weekend for which we used to come home.I came home for two of the four such vacations.The other two times we planned to go for the Navarathri garbha celebrations but never did bcos of our laziness.
Now my first Navarthri in US,we planned to go to NYU for their Garbha celebrations.But this time we did turnup.Thanks to Alpesh's friend Pratik for inviting all of us(Me,Alpesh,Nirav,Salil,Koushik,Amrish,Poonam,Devika,Amee n Gouravi).All of us got dressed up in traditional ware.(Yes guys me in Kurtha and Pyjama).We reached there on time and pratik received us.But u know,being an Indian party it must follow IST,so it started late.During this time we had the opportunity of sitting in the Lounge of NYU on the 9th floor which has an amazing view of the Manhattan Skyline.We went in paying an entree fee of $9.
As soon as we entered i searched for what everyone does...........ooh come on u must have guessed it....yes,it is food.There were Samosas,Bajji,Cookies,Chocolates,Juice and Soda(our Indian Cooldrink with a fancy name).All of us munched on the available stuff.People who came in there were already dancing around the arena.Some of them practising on the corners.Crowd started to pour in as time passed.Everyone was dancing and singing and believe me it really was a festive atmosphere.My friends Alpesh,Nirav n Devika wanted to join the dancing group but i dont know why,they initially dint.Then the actual program started.The organizers(ICE-Indian Cultural Exchange) introduced themselves and then there were a couple of performances by the NYU Garbha team(their Debut performance) and the Bhangra team(supposed to be the best Bhangra team in the Tri-State Area).They were really very very amazing.
After these performances there was Dhandiya followed by Bhangra where anyone can dance.All this while i have been eyeing all the DESI girls(most of them ABCD).Though we can't compare,it reminded me of Rendezvous.It really was a treat for my Eyes with all these well dressed up girls,dancing.There were also non DESI people i mean Non Indians who turned up who wanted to learn the dance and know about our culture.It really made me very happy to know how well respected and valued our culture is.All the ABCDs who are born and brought up here give so much value to our customs and traditions.I really salute you all Guys n Gals."Hats-off to you".
During all this i had some misunderstanding with someof my friends bcos of which i did not participate in the dancing and stuff though all my friends insisted me to do so.I am really very very sorry for being such an idiot and behaving rudely with you guys.I sincerely apologize. The next day afternoon me and Shyam went to Archery Arena to do some archery practise.That was the first time i was in a real archery arena.Though i used to play with some small home made bow n arrow,this experience was really amazing.My performance there was decent enuf of the first time.
Phew...i always think of writing a small blog,but end up writing a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig one.Sorry guys.But thankyou for reading it patiently. I really expect comments from you.So who so ever reads this blog completely please leave a comment.Please dont write anonymous comment,mention who you are,i really would like you to comment you with a critical view,no matter how harsh they are.Will be waiting for your comments.
Thanking you once again.
Adieu...:)
